How To Have Hard Conversations

Short Wave

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Many people are gearing up for holiday conversations with loved ones who may disagree with them — on everything from politics to religion and lifestyle choices. As the conversations unfold, these divisions are visible in our brains too. These conversations can get personal and come to a halt fast. But today on the show we get into research in neuroscience and psychology showing that as much as we disagree, there are ways to bridge these divides – and people who are actively using these strategies in their daily lives.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're a regular listener of the shortwave podcast, then you probably listen to other NPR
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0:24.2	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:29.6	Hey, shortwapers, Emily Kwong here with producer Rachel Carlson for an episode on disagreement.
0:35.5	Hey, Emily. Hey.
0:37.2	So it is no surprise that there is a lot of disagreement and division out there in the world right now.
0:43.2	That's the understatement of the century.
0:44.7	Truly.
0:45.4	I mean, Donald Trump was just reelected as the 47th president of the United States after a campaign season filled with divisive and sometimes downright hostile language.
0:54.7	Yeah.
0:55.2	And a lot of people are gearing up for the holidays where you might not always see eye to eye with the people you love in your life.
1:01.1	Yeah, this is true for many people I know. It is feeling tense and data supports this.
1:06.4	Polling data from SNF, Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University shows that almost half of the U.S.
1:12.7	electorate thinks members of the opposing party are downright evil. In a 22 Pew study, growing
1:18.4	numbers of Americans said members of the other party are dishonest, immoral, and closed-minded.
1:23.5	So it's not just in our imaginations. We really are becoming more divided.
1:27.1	So, Emily, this week, NPR is exploring these divisions and finding stories about people trying to bridge their divides, successfully or not.
1:36.2	And since we're a science show, I wanted to know what does science have to say about how to manage conflict well, political or otherwise. And that's how I
1:46.4	ended up talking to two people who've been disagreeing with each other for almost 45 years.
1:52.4	Jeannie Safer is a psychoanalyst, she's liberal, and she's married to Richard Brookheiser, a
	...

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